


Red Mist

by sp00kworm



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015), Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi, The Last Jedi
Genre: Anger, Angst, Canon Divergence, Canon-Typical Violence, Exploration writing, F/M, Feelings, Feels, Fluff, Hate, M/M, SPOILERS FOR THE LAST JEDI, minor ships
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-14
Updated: 2018-01-14
Packaged: 2019-03-05 00:07:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,258
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13375935
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sp00kworm/pseuds/sp00kworm
Summary: Kylo had always felt this anger, but why does suddenly, everything feel strange. He can't explain it, but something has changed inside him. The rising waves of light and dark are tearing him apart at the seams.*TLJ spoilers be warned*





	Red Mist

Kylo stared at the explosions behind them as Starkiller Base exploded behind the escape shuttles full of First Order members slipped into light speed. Hux screamed commands from the bridge, his cheeks slowly bleeding to pink with anger and frustration. Ren tuned the scathing high-pitched orders out as the bleeding of his side got worse and the light saber wounds across his face burned in agony. The stars bled to white streaks as the ship shot into light speed to escape the explosions of the massive planet killing machine. His shoulder burned as he batted away another medic who tried to cut away at his robes to reach the bowcaster bolt wound that the Wookie had inflicted on him. Another medic scrambled to cut away at his sleeve to get to the searing shoulder wound and Kylo growled, gritting his teeth as he sat up, the wire monitoring his heart rate twanging and pulling over the medic droid attempting to analyse his vitals. The robot grumbled on the floor and beeped sadly as its arms, made for holding trays of equipment, couldn’t push it back up

The female medic clicked her tongue, “Commander Ren, would you please remain still so we can thoroughly examine and treat…” Kylo cut her off with a dark stare and tugged the wire from his neck with a twitch in his jaw. Pain shot across his body as he moved his legs over the side of the small medical cot and tried to stand. His side screamed in protest as he stood, his knees wobbling slightly. His brain screamed at the weakness, especially in front of the low ranking medical staff in front of him. They watched him heave himself up against the wall and attempt to open the door.  
Kylo grumbled and pointed a burnt gloved hand at one of them, “You. Open the door, now.” He heard their whispered thoughts, why couldn’t he do it himself? They only made him angrier and the dark-haired force user almost launched on across the room when they laid a hand on his shoulder and tried to coax him back into the cot. 

The door slid open just as a very red-faced Hux was about to glide through the door. The general squirmed a little under Kylo’s dark eyes. They were wide, and the force user swallowed as the general scowled at him, turning his nose up in the air at the blood now dripping down the wall from the blaster wound in Kylo’s side. Hux snorted and took two long strides over to Kylo his eyes angry.  
“I suggest you stop being such a petulant child and let them deal with your wounds, Kylo. Not only are you wasting my time but your wasting time you have to recover before seeing the Supreme Leader.” The ginger snorted and plucked at a thread on Kylo’s cowl. The darker haired man scowled at the general his lips pursing before he hobbled back over to the bed and sat down, letting the medics apply bacta patches to his wounds to try and begin the healing process. The medics worked quickly and pressed bundles of cloth to his side, trying to staunch the blood flow from the blaster wound at his hip.

“The supreme leader wants to see you as soon as we reach the Finalizer. He was very…insistent, that you be sent to him immediately.” Hux watched Kylo swallow, his adam’s apple bobbing as he remembered his failure. Beaten by a girl and a stormtrooper. Hux had grinned at the failure at the time, but now it was soured with the loss of his weapon, Starkiller Base, and the trust the Supreme Leader had had in them both. Both of their combined stubbornness and pride had caused the downfall of the First Order’s greatest weapon. Kylo clenched his jaw when the male medic applied a bit too much pressure to his wound, but still only shot daggers at Hux. The general sighed and moved to the door. “I’d advise you get some rest, Ren, otherwise you may end up in worse shape.” The ginger eyed the darker haired male for a moment over his shoulder before exiting the small medial room, the doors hissing closed behind him. Kylo only snorted, grinding his back teeth with agitation. Hux never failed to crawl right beneath his skin with his ‘holier than thou’ act. He turned his head to the side to watch the female medic politely cough. He promptly removed his clothing, so she could bandage his wounds.

There was an insistent prodding at the back of his mind, a swirling pit of dread in his stomach and a dark aura around the young dark side user as he marched down the hallways of the Finalizer towards Snoke’s throne room. The hallways were devoid of life – none of the troopers were permitted this far, and no one would dare go near the Supreme Leader’s area of the ship anyway. Kylo breathed through the mouth piece of his mask, gasping quietly with a wheeze at the soreness of his ribs and side. His shoulder and face wound were still black from the saber swipes and he cringed beneath the mask as he pictured the girl, Rey’s, controlled face as she sent him to the ground with his grandfather’s own lightsaber. The taste of defeat was bitter in his mouth as he stood in the lift, his hands clenched in fists by his sides as the white lighting glanced off the dark, angry looking mask over his face. He could feel his master, and feel the anger or disdain swirling in the room as he walked from the lift shaft and towards the throne. Anger clouded his vision and hate coiled in his gut as he watched the snake talk to him, belittle him like a child, yet he knew his actions were that of a child, someone too sure of their abilities. He had been bested by a child of a Jedi and her merry band of little resistance fighters, and he would not let it happen again. 

The force-bond was something he had only read about in the Jedi temple when the others managed to leave him alone for long enough to read to himself. Luke had been unwilling to divulge much information, but Kylo learnt it was something almost unheard of. When the girl kept showing up in the hallways and his room, he was more than annoyed. Anger coiled around his heart at the sight of the dark haired, brunette and Rey looked as equally unimpressed. He pushed the small medical driod away as it was part the way through removing the charred skin from his saber scar and moved into the hall way after the strange feeling.  
“Murderous snake!” He didn’t even flinch at her scathing, viscious comment. Kylo’s lips twitched as if trying to move in a semblance of a smirk. Her anger was justified, but funny all the same, such dark emotions did not suit a Jedi. Before he could hold himself back he was whipping at her with equally sharp comments and snide remarks, trying to gently probe around her image to gain a glimpse of her surroundings. Rey’s mental block immediately moved into place and her eyebrows twitched as she effectively shoved him out of her mind. Kylo clenched his jaw and jabbed at her wall with a pointer for show before receding back into his own head, his own walls cemented around his conscious to avoid her probing his emotions once more.

Her appearance in his room was strange. A cool sea breeze blew through his hair, the cold making his back muscles quake a little with the sharp chill against them. Blowing hair out of his face, he turned to greet Rey with a sour look. She huffed and muttered to herself about being connected to him once again, but quickly finished looking around his small private room to finally glance at him. A few snippets of things floated across the bond. Embarrassment. Kylo stared at her, his chest bare, and watched her flail her hands, “Could you cover yourself up? A shirt on or a cowl? Something?!” Her cheeks tinted pink and Kylo only watched her with a strange piercing look in his eyes. Their conversation was brief as always, but he couldn’t quite place Rey and her emotions. Anger, that was always there, but she had a tenderness to her, a soft heart. He quickly tossed the thought aside. A soft heart would be her inevitable downfall. 

“Monster.”  
Darkness clouded his mind as he spat his words back at her, “Yes, I am.” 

The nights were the strangest. He could feel a pull, distant, far off in the back of his mind, not quite within his grasp, but it had a presence that kept jiggling its way into his attention. When Rey fell asleep, the bond fell quiet, a calmness fell across it, and Kylo could only see his own anger swimming in his own head. It soon diluted into the bond, but was always counteracted and balanced by the time he awoke. Rey’s own ability to quell bad thoughts seemingly doing the same across their strange unpredicted bond. Sometimes he could see glimpses of things. A dark stone hut, a small flower she had found in the day. It was all useless information, but Kylo somehow found solace in that. Small irrelevant things seemed to brighten Rey’s world, especially flowers, Kylo had seen snippets of hundreds of flowers through the girl’s eyes in her memories, and he found himself calm, the anger pushed aside as he felt what she felt. An admiration for things she had not seen or had before. Somehow, her feelings were quaint, if not naïve.

Hux’s appearance as always, was a thorn in his side. The general found him on the observatory deck above the docking bay, watching the transports and fighters move in and out of the ship Hux’s dark gaze glanced over the pilots and transport workers, watching as a few technicians got to work repairing a tie fighters wing. He opened his mouth just as Kylo turned to walk away.  
“What are you doing up here, Kylo? I doubt you were really interested in what the workers are doing.” The general followed him with his eyes, watching the other males body language as he pried.  
“Is it really any of your business, General?” Kylo said hotly, looking at Hux over his shoulder with an unimpressed look. Hux scowled at Kylo, his gaze skating across the man’s back as he gripped his hands behind his back and smirked.  
“Who is it you were talking to then?” Hux’s face brightened with vicious glee as he watched Kylo stiffen a little.

Kylo whipped around in a flash and growled, “No one you need to be concerned about, Hux, perhaps its time you go and seat yourself before the Supreme Leader and be the foot stool you’ve always been.” With a snort the master of the Knights of Ren turned his head back and took two strides away from the ginger, his fists slowly clenching and unclenching. Hux was far from calm and hissed like his beloved cat as he strode after Kylo.  
“A foot stool?! That’s rich coming from his personal little dog. Always running back to his lap for a little treat when you do something right, and sulking in the shadows with your tail tucked between your legs when it goes wrong!” Hux’s grin turned malicious as the darker haired male halted. “You’re scared of him, are you not? Scared that if you fail him…” Kylo whipped around like a snake his hand forming a grip in the air. Hux flinched as his trachea was squeezed, the tissue caving slightly under the pressure. Stormy eyes stared into his as Kylo stalked closer, eventually wrapping his hand around the general’s throat with a clenched jaw and a snarl. Raising his gloved hand, he spread the fingers and plucked the strings at the edge of Hux’s mind, before finding a loop and barging his way in.

Hux gasped and flinched, his head moving to the side violently, colliding with the dark metal of the wall. Kylo pushed further in, his fingers twitching as he flicked memories and feelings aside, searching for what he wanted, drawing them out of the man’s mind. Snoke was prevalent, but Armitage’s father made several appearances, hand raised, violent words dripping from his tongue as they connected. Then the knife and the blood, Hux’s father strewn in his armchair. Kylo watched the general for a moment before ceasing his efforts, and pulling his hand away, at a loss for words. Hux growled then and shoved Kylo away with a grumble and tugged at his uniform, straightening the black heavy material out.  
“It seems as though Snoke isn’t your only tormentor, General.” Kylo twitched his fingers before turning away, a strange feeling surrounding him as he left Armitage to compose himself.

Kylo held his hand out, his face pleading with Rey. She looked at his gloved hand, her eyes flicking to his as she hesitated before slowly moving in. He wanted to just grab hers, to finally be able to show her what he meant, what everything meant, but he waited. She needed to do it on her own. He flinched as Anakin’s light saber flew from his grasp and his face crumbled for a moment with sorrow before his own hand flew up from his side, willing the saber back towards him. They screamed with the effort, battling for the old light saber in a battle of wills. The next thing Kylo remembered was it breaking in half and being sent across the room in a flash of white. Rey, his counterpart in the light, had forsaken him.

Kylo saw the flicker of movement as Hux’s hand whipped away from his blaster in the great coat he had on, but said nothing as the General stared at Snoke’s corpse.  
“The supreme leader is dead?! What happened?” Hux’s shrill voice made his head throb more, the explosion still ringing in his ears, his head pounding.  
“The girl. She killed Snoke.” He scrambled to his feet, blinking the flashing lights out of his eyes.  
“She escaped in the Supreme Leader’s escape ship…” Kylo tuned the ginger out, his heart beating in his ears as his anger surged. She had escaped and left him, alone. He watched Armitage’s mouth move, his ears ringing, before grappling him by the throat.  
“The supreme leader is dead!”  
Hux’s face grew red as he choked, “All hail the supreme leader.” Satisfied he was silenced, Ren let the man drop from his grasp before storming out towards the transport his mind a blur of anger and darkness.  
“We finish this today.”

Kylo knew Hux was looking at him with anger and distrust. He did not care. All their opinions didn’t matter so long as he could kill them, make Rey see, get his revenge. A storm raged inside him as he screamed orders at the troops, spittle flying with his anger. Hux’s calming orders did nothing to calm the waters and Kylo shook with rage as Luke brushed the salt and minerals from his robes. Something snapped as he found himself in front of his former master, the betrayal if that night bubbling to the surface. Luke raising the light saber a dark look swirling in his eyes as his arm twitched to swing it home. Kylo had made him pay for it. The burning of the temple, the slaughtering of those who raised their training sabers against him. Kylo remembered the smell of singed flesh that clung to him for weeks. He had still found clumps of dried crusted blood days after the event despite standing under the shower for hours watching the streaks of red run with the water down the drain. Beyond the red mist covering his mind, he didn’t even see the trick until the Jedi Master had vanished, and his vengeance with it. Screaming at the air, he smashed his saber at the mineral surface of the planet before returning and ordering his troops to search the base. 

Golden dice glittered in the small communications room, and Kylo picked them up, reminising about his time on the Falcon, his father running a hand through his hair, flicking the small animated cartoons on that Chewie loved so much. The dice clinked as he picked them up and he felt the sucking of the bond. Rey’s face came into view. His mouth twitched with unsaid words and she only looked at him with disappointment before slamming the air lock door closed in his face. He jumped and watched the golden dice disappear, they were only a force projected illusion, and they died with the man who made them. Hux watched him from the doorway, a pensive expression on his face that was replaced with one of mild annoyance. They had missed their chance at catching the rebellion and the girl was still against them. Kylo clenched his hand and stood, moving towards Hux, his cape billowing.  
“I believe its time we discuss your position, Grand Marshal.” He swept past Hux and moved towards the entrance, the troopers forming in around them.

~~~

 

The First Order had few Resurgent-class Star Destroyers, but the two of them made their temporary base of operations a smaller class ship. Hux prowled the bridge and centre control area like a seething hound most days, ordering manoeuvres and spent hours locked in his office with paper work. Kylo discovered that Snoke had employees to do almost everything for him. If anything, Snoke’s time had been spent instilling fear into everyone who stood before him. Kylo’s office was simple and rarely used, the matters that did require his attention didn’t need his office space. That was why he spent most of his working hours flicking through Hux’s paperwork in the Grand Marshals office, signing the bottoms with dull bored eyes. The ginger generally remained quiet, unless it was to ask him to stop glaring at Millicent, who often took to draping herself over Kylo’s lap for warmth. The intimidating male was like a magnet with the heat he gave out. Somehow, he was content to let the creature perch in his lap, so long as it meant Hux didn’t whine into his ear.  


“She seems to like you.” Hux paused in writing on his data pad and sipped the tea he had in his hand, eyeing his traitorous cat that rolled over in Kylo’s lap purring, batting her paws at the dark cape draped over the back of the chair. Kylo wiggled his finger behind her ear, scratching gently before huffing.  
“She won’t leave me alone. Apparently, my lap makes a good pillow.” Softly he tickled under her chin and Hux rolled his eyes.  
“Anyone would think you’re going soft, Supreme Leader.” He spat the words and clicked his data pad off to try and grab his cat from Kylo’s grasp. Millicent grappled onto Kylo’s cape with a grumble and the leader growled, trying to remove her claws from the heavy dark fabric. Kylo only gently grasped the cat before petting her head, and depositing her in Hux’s lap. He let his hand linger for a moment before striding to the door.  
“I expect that finance report to be on my desk by the morning, Grand Marshal.” Slamming the door behind him he sped away, brushing cat hairs off his person.

**Author's Note:**

> Just a reflection of Kylo in the last jedi. The film really made me wonder what they are going to do with him and I thought I should do a bit of character exploration before I committed to any real writing.


End file.
